Bajrang Dal blast: NIA probes Abhinav link

The National Investigation Agency is trying to find out whether two Agra-based active members of Abhinav Bharat had supplied explosives and other bomb-making material to two Bajrang Dal activists who were killed in an explosion in a flat at Kanpur in August 2008.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is trying to find out whether two Agra-based active members of Abhinav Bharat had supplied explosives and other bomb-making material to two Bajrang Dal activists who were killed in an explosion in a flat at Kanpur in August 2008. Sources said the names of two Abhinav Bharat members were revealed by Valsad-based textile businessman Bharat Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai during his interrogation by the NIA and Rajasthan ATS.

Bharat Bhai,a close associate of Aseemanand,was arrested from Valsad on Friday and is presently in police custody in Jaipur till February 11.

A senior Rajasthan ATS official said that Bharat Bhai has revealed the names of over 10 office-bearers of various Hindu outfits in Uttar Pradesh with whom he was in touch. He also said that he,along with slain Ajmer Sharif blast accused Sunil Joshi,had stayed at the place of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur in 2006,sources said.

The ATS official said that regarding the Agra-based men,Bharat Bhai said that they had picked him up from the Agra railway station during his visit there in October,2006. Bharat Bhai has reportedly stated that he did not know the personal details of the men,but he had earlier met them during Abhinav Bharat meetings. He said the men from Agra did not attend all the meetings,as only selected members participated in meetings where operations were planned. But one of them attended meetings held in Nagpur,Indore and at Aseemanands ashram in the Dangs,the ATS official added.

An NIA official,who was also part of the interrogation,said that neither Bharat Bhai nor Aseemanand have revealed details of the role,if any,of the members of Hindu outfits from UP in the conspiracies behind various blasts. But they had information that one of the two men Bharat Bhai has named had attended some of the secret meetings. There is also information which suggests that he could have a link with the Kanpur blast in which Bajrang Dal activists Rajiv Mishra and Bhupinder Singh Chopra were killed in an explosion when they were trying to make bombs. He added that the NIA was trying to trace the Agra-based youths.